(Transformers Play) Shadow of the Colossus
by Tigressa101
Summary: A very famous game with no enemies but rather sixteen bosses? Who would've thought a boss run would be this beautiful and tragic at the same time? Certainly not the Transformers!
1. Part 1

**Characters: Arcee, Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Breakdown, Knockout**

* * *

Each of them sat down as they were instructed in separate rooms, handed a PS4 "Cybertronian-compatible" controller, and asked simple questions. Optimus turned the controller in his servo once or twice nodding at what he was being told while others like Bulkhead just grunted at the meaningless rambles.

"So today, you are going to be playing _Shadow of the Colossus_. It's basically a platform game and all you do is track down bosses. That's the only thing you do," one of the cameramen said.

Arcee made a half-hearted grin, "So that's all we do? We just go around killing bosses? No intermediate fights, nothing like that?"

"Basically."

"This is gonna be interesting then," Breakdown scoffed in response to another cameraman.

"And I'm all alone?" Megaton raised a brow.

"Yes, everyone has their own room with no one to disturb them and we'll just be recording your reactions. We won't respond unless you want us to but it's mainly about you," the camerawoman gestured.

The warlord made a huff of surprise before holding up the controller ready to play.

" _Here we go, baby,_ " Bumblebee chirped.

"Fighting Colossi? This isn't going to be easy, is it? You made sure this game was hard when you chose it, huh?" Ratchet scowled.

* * *

 _Watching the Intro:_

"This looks like so much of an improvement from the original, like the graphics are gorgeous. I've never played it though. I wanted to but never got around to it," Breakdown gasped.

"I don't remember this game too well but I remember it had quite a buzz around it," Arcee smirked. "I personally didn't care for these things but I certainly took note of its existence."

"Hey kid, the horse is freaking out. That's usually a sign that, you know, means bad things are about to happen!" Wheeljack emphasized with several motions of his servos.

The character, Wander, passed the idols.

Knockout raised a brow, "I'm guessing those are important? Are those the Colossi? Are they just going to spawn from the statues and attack me one by one?"

"Where's my statue?" Megatron laughed, "I'm a colossus compared to everyone. I'd scare that human dead, wouldn't have to worry about the boy killing me."

Wander placed the girl, Mono, on the slab in the altar and a multi-frequency voice radiated from the ceiling, scaring the shadows approaching into thin air.

"Mmm, that voice. Kind of reminds me of the Allspark," Arcee purred.

Bulkhead coughed, "Oh damn, when god starts talking down on you, you're either in deep scrap or you've done something amazing. That sword may also be the case too."

As the one called Dormin spoke about killing the Colossi, several of the bots grew confused.

"Oh no, we have to kill all these creatures just to revive one person? That's not right." Ratchet shook his helm angrily.

" _Why though? There has to be an alternate way_ ," Bumblebee frowned. " _I wouldn't go that far...killing an entire species...Megatron…may, but I definitely wouldn't_."

Megatron clicked his talons together, "I've done some terrible things almost close to this but the difference is I don't kill unless I deem them not useful. In this case, I would've considered if reviving one individual was worth a force of sixteen Colossi. They may not obey me but I can find a way to capture them and set them on my enemies in honor of my fallen sparkmate or respected soldier. I look more towards what benefits I reap from it rather than what's right or wrong. That may be selfish but that's what I think."

Optimus groaned in his servos as he heard Dormin's instructions. "This is not good."

* * *

 _The 1_ _st_ _Colossus:_

"Introducing Valus, the first Colossus of your adventure!"

Bumblebee smirked, " _Oh, big bad bull…I'm a matador...coming to put you down!_ "

He made his character whistle, attracting the large creature to turn and imposingly stare down at him as he prepared his bow to agitate it. It didn't take much for the Minotaur to swing down providing enough time to stab the heel of it.

Megaton eagerly climbed the monster to conquer it but the Colossus swung its head angrily as he latched on to perform the final blow but when he stabbed the beast, it only roared and black blood poured from its wound.

"You didn't die? That was a direct impalement to the brain, you would be dead in real life."

Arcee and Starscream kept falling off the backside of the beast because their grip bar ran out before they could get to the platform trying to navigate the fur. Bulkhead snarled as his grip died right before he delivered the last stab, prompting the Colossus to buck his head up and send his character flying back depleting a good portion of his health.

"Didn't like that, did you?" Breakdown chuckled, ramming his sword into the glowing insignia.

Knockout pursed his lips in frustration as he could not get a full charge to cause maximum pain. "Die already, Primus be damned! You aren't immortal so just take a nose dive and let me win! Give in to your doom, buddy, we can do this all day and I'm not leaving until you're a corpse!"

The Prime wasn't as thrilled as the others trying to beat the boss. Killing something "innocent" as the creature he invaded the home of felt wrong but to progress, he had to. "You all should be ashamed of yourselves for making me do this. This is not enjoyable to me."

"Sorry that we made you kill Valus, Optimus," the camerawoman chuckled.

"No you are not, I see it on your face."

As for Wheeljack, he had the largest grin of all. Stabbing the beast left and right, the camera crew were kind of feeling bad for the creature more so than Wheeljack's character. "What'chu gonna do? What can you do? You are dead!"

Shockwave and Soundwave beat the Colossus relatively easy with little to zero feedback while focusing hard on the objective. The Silent mech managed to beat the Colossus in under 1:30 and gave a small fist thrust in victory.

The Decepticon scientist shrugged in comparison, "One beast down, fifteen more to go. Extinction is the only logical solution."

Ratchet gagged a bit at the black blood pouring from its skull. "That's a sign of a procedure gone bad. That's worst case scenario on the operation table if that were to happen in processor surgery. That Colossus is dead."

"Yeah baby!" Arcee shouted, "Go down to the ground and bury yourself, boy! Whoohoo!"

"There we go! Let's go!" Wheeljack yapped.

Megatron simply lied back as the cutscene of the dead Colossus played. "A victor once more. Kind of wish I had someone like that to fight in the Pits. Now I know how Arcee feels when she's fighting me."

Optimus, on the other hand, peered at the crew with disappointment, "That was terrible. Why did you make me do that? Now I feel awful."

"There are more Colossi to fight and they only get harder from here," the producer spoke individually to each bot.

"Aw damn, so that was easy?" Breakdown smiled.

"I kind of feel tricked because you said I was only doing one session," Starscream frowned surprised.

"No you are, _one gaming session_. You are defeating the Colossi until you die or reach the end of the game which isn't as long as you think depending how fast you can figure out how to defeat them."

The Seeker raised his brows, "Oohh, so that's how it's going to be."

" _I'm ready…I ain't got nothing to lose_." Bumblebee whirred.

* * *

 _The 2_ _nd_ _Colossus:_

"Oh no, what is that!?" Knockout whined.

"Another bull, huh?" Wheeljack huffed, "Alright Ferdinand, we about to dance."

Arcee clapped her servos in glee, "Aww! I just found my favorite Colossus design so far. Like I love that. I want to adopt it."

Megatron snorted, "Oh okay, steak and ground beef it is. Probably wouldn't taste too good considering it's made of earthly materials and ruins."

Ratchet just peered down into his lap before glaring at the screen, "This is an absolute nightmare. Now I'm starting to feel guilty."

"You are about to kill Quadratus, the titan of the beach. Her wrath is powerful but slow though nonetheless effective."

"No don't name it, that'll make my guilt feel worse!"

Starscream was the first to figure out what to do, pulling out his bow and shooting the pads beneath the mammoth's foot sending it kneeling down in agony. It took the others a minute or two to find out this because they were staring up at it rather than below it.

"Why would a weak spot be on the creature's aft? That doesn't seem logical," Shockwave grunted, stabbing the insignia.

Arcee's character seemed to get stuck under the hip plating, losing her stamina and fell back down with some of her health depleted from the impact.

"Oh, that happened? Thank you, game gods! Dormin must really like me." The green Wrecker laughed. Bulkhead got lucky. His character nearly got stuck there too but the game glitched slightly and shot him up which he then landed on top of the plate. This allowed him to recharge his grip bar and continue with no penalties.

Megatron slipped only once while his character made a break for the head insignia when it began to shake. He found himself too close to the edge and was thrown off rather slowly. He glared at the beast with an unreadable expression and kept silent as he aimed the bow again this time at the creature's front hooves.

"No, you fucking lunch meat!" Breakdown scowled as he lost his grip too early as the Colossus kept shaking its head nonstop.

The silent Decepticon had better luck entirely, speeding through the boss as soon as he figured out where all the weak spots were and how to scale the massive monster. Stabbing the rear insignia last, the creature fell gracefully which brought Soundwave to produce a sad, crying symbol on his screen.

Others like Optimus and Ratchet were slow at killing the Colossus because guilt was reeking from them and there were very well aware of it. Though Optimus kind of became frustrated climbing the creature, especially the legs where he struggled the most out of all the bots, he completed the task nevertheless. The medic just grumbled as he paced it to his liking which took almost thirty minutes.

"Stab you in the aft, stab you in head. I'd pity you, you beautiful bastard if I could," Knockout smirked.

Wheeljack just blew by the Colossus vigorously, milking every in of life from the beast even before he got to the insignias. When it came down, he just clapped his servos mockingly before bringing his arms behind his helm to rest back in victory. "Easy pickings, boys. Give me something harder."

" _Poor cow_ ," Bumblebee innocently pouted.

"That was epic but I didn't like that I had to kill it. I would have kept it. I would have gotten yelled at by everyone but it would be my pet and we would fight everyone together," the two-wheeler sadly smiled.

Shockwave stared down at the controller for a second before suddenly saying, "I feel like I have, in some small way, murdered the creations in my lab. This makes me a bit unnerved. Predaking certainly would not forgive my actions."

"It's just a game though," the producer frowned.

"Play a game where you kill an animal you have as a pet in real life and tell me it does not make you uncomfortable," he growled.

"You aren't going to like a few of the Colossi coming up then. One is in fact dragon-like."

The one-eyed mech groaned.

* * *

 _The 3_ _rd_ _Colossus:_

"Gaius is the knight of the realm here with his mighty sword at hand. Just don't get hit by it."

"I…don't know what that's supposed to be but the long limbs are creeping me out…just like Soundwave fittingly," Starscream said with uncertainty.

"That thing looks like someone tried making a human but made it look like a hyper realistic version of a stick figure," Wheeljack grimaced.

Bumblebee gagged a bit and placed two perpendicular fingers in the form of a cross at the screen.

Bulkhead glared at it with unease, "I would not want to meet this thing in real life. That thing's ugly and the fact that they promoted it more than any other Colossus just makes it ten times worst."

All the bots present roamed for almost two minutes trying to piece together how to defeat the Colossus. Some kept trying to climb the creature with no avail while others just kept shooting it with arrows hoping it slam down its sword and a cutscene would finally run or something.

"What the hell am I supposed to-does that round thing in the middle of the field do something? Do I get him to stand on it or what?" Ratchet bellowed.

Eventually, a majority of them connected the circle with an item of importance, watching the cutscene in glee and relief as the arm armor shattered. The rest found out accidentally running in random directions and the beast just happened to swing down on it.

"That was stupid, why did I not see that?" Megatron huffed.

Bumblebee scaled the giant to the head and just bludgeoned the creature in an attempt to end the fight quickly as did Soundwave but once the insignia disappeared, both of them had mixed reactions along with many others.

After stabbing the creature repeatedly, Arcee narrowed her optics, "There's another one? Where is it?"

Optimus stayed silent, wandering across the Colossus' backside looking for the second weak spot.

"Prime, are you okay?" The camerawoman asked.

"I am not in the mood for communication, please," he politely answered with very big emphasis on politely.

Breakdown focused as he peered towards the abdomen of the creature with suspicion, brows furrowed, "Is it here? It better be here. Like it's nowhere else; where could it possibly be, unless I'm missing something."

"Oh my god!" Knockout scowled. "It's on its fucking stomach, isn't it? That's the most inaccessible area on this Colossus and you want us to jump over there without falling down? This is bullshit, whoever placed this weak point in production has to get fired! That's stupid!"

"Scrap, did not mean to do that," Shockwave whispered as he attempted the jump to its waist ruins but unfortunately missed, falling to the ground beneath the Colossus' feet.

"I'm going to kill whoever designed this Colossus, I really am," Bulkhead growled.

"JUMP, YOU SON OF A—"

Megatron lowly sighed, "This is terrible, absolutely terrible. I want to die."

After falling off for the third time, Wheeljack tapped his knees angrily peering into his lap. "Fuck this Colossus. Any pity I had for the other two died with this ugly bastard."

Starscream literally screamed as he stabbed the abdomen and finally watched the Colossus fall to its death. "Thank you!"

Several bots whooped and hollered as they defeated the creature, some even began laughing madly. Soundwave placed his arms in the air and spun in his chair, pumping his arms up and down happily while Optimus made a sound that could only be assumed to be a whimper of distress and exhaustion.

"I want to kill everybody in this room. I am not a happy camper right now," Ratchet spat.

Bumblebee twirled his thumbs, " _I have never been so frustrated…free at last, free at last! Thank god almighty, we are free at last!_ "

"And you said this was only going to get harder as I meet more Colossi? Really?" Breakdown gasped. "Like that was hard hard, and from what I've heard most of these are only medium hard compared to a few."

"Well that's if you know what you're doing," the cameraman stated.

"Still," the ex-Wrecker motioned, "that was horrible! I don't think I'm going to have so much of a problem with the others."

* * *

"Okay, do you want to keep playing now that you've had a taste of this game?" Asked the producer to each Transformer.

Only two didn't raise their servos out of all the sessions: Ratchet and Optimus.

"Why don't you wish to continue?"

Ratchet shook his head, "Gaming is not for me because I am going to break your controller if I continue."

Optimus replied, "I just…cannot kill even fantasy creatures such as those. It just disturbs me watching my character murder them like that."

The camera crew looked at each other before the producer continued to speak, "What if I told you that if you complete the game, we'll throw in a free supply of Energon for two months."

The medic barked, "You think you can bribe me to keep playing this nightmare? Then again that's a fair deal."

"I would have to consider it before I make my decision," the Prime rumbled calmly.

"If you agree, come back for the next session. If you don't, we'll know because you won't enter the room. How about that?"

Optimus nodded but Ratchet scoffed, "We'll see. No promises."

* * *

 **AN: Finally got to do this one. I've been sitting on this for so long, it's not even funny. For those of you who think this feels like a bit of a cheesy start, it is but the other chapters are significantly better and funnier (at least to me).**


	2. Part 2

**Characters: Arcee, Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Breakdown, Knockout**

* * *

 _The 4_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"I can't believe I returned for this," Ratchet shook his helm maliciously. "Damn you, Bumblebee."

Optimus gave a low growl of disapproval under his breath as he watched the equus-like Colossus stand intimidatingly, gracefully like a god. "This Colossus I am definitely going to regret murdering."

"Phaedra heels to no man or beast. Be very considerate of your next move or it may be your last."

"Was it that, French? Greek?" Megatron hummed.

Arcee stared in awe, "I take it back about the bull, this is my favorite Colossus by far."

"Is this going to be a bitch because I'm going to kill this zebra-looking ass and I have all day today, baby!" Knockout whooped.

The Colossus began to move forward in a rather creepy insect stance and Bulkhead navigated Agro to turn back to the ditches. He rumbled a small tune in thought, "I don't know what I'm doing but I'm assuming in has to do with these caves or shrines. Graves? Maybe? That would be creepy if that's the case. I kind of don't want to see dead people, no thank you."

"Run, horse, run! Save your master!" Wheeljack smiled as the Colossus followed him to the graveyard. He leapt off Agro and split into the underground area.

The creature made the ceiling shake as it walked over the tunnels oblivious to Soundwave running to the opposite end. Bumblebee and Starscream seemingly used this method too, coming out the other side and kneeling to where the Colossus could not see them hiding as it did a full three hundred and sixty degree turn to check for the intruders.

Breakdown and the others, however, just stayed near the opening they entered.

The ex-Wrecker clapped his servos to signify he was ready to kick the Colossus to extinction. "I saw those rein-looking appendages and I think they are useful so we are going to try and climb it. Here we go!"

"Come on, glue factory. We got to get a move on, can't wait for you to do your morning stretch here." Megatron waited patiently as it began to lean down over the entrance in search for him.

"Ride you like a rodeo!" Knockout laughed as his character attached himself to the moss material-covered stone which the Colossus reacting badly to his move.

Shockwave carefully planned his ascend, passing the red iris of the beast to get to the head. He paused when it bucked but said nothing, too focused to win to acknowledge its close attempt to fling him off.

Starscream eagerly ran behind it as its rear lowered to almost graze the ground. Jumping on it, the massive creature shook its entire body trying to dislodge him. He held on, occasionally trying to run on it but stumbling close to the edge of its body almost to fall off.

Knockout's stamina depleted without him noticing and when the Colossus reared, he was catapulted into the air but luckily, he landed on its backside albeit a bit angry. "I'm trying to save you from yourself and that's how you repay me?"

Bumblebee nearly did the same. He whirred as he was slightly elevated around the beast's neck from a sudden jolt. " _Bucking like a bronco! Yeehaw!_ "

"Die already, you won't win and we know it," the Autobot medic huffed.

Stabbing the insignia, the equus gave a roar of pain which made the Prime wince a little. He stayed silent but his expression was not a pleasant one, definitely not.

Soundwave didn't hesitate to end its misery, watching it shake its head in fear of death. And who would blame it? Finally, the last blow was struck and the horse-like creature lost its footing, crashing in between the grave entrances.

As it fell, Arcee put both servos over her mouth sadly. "Goodnight, sweetheart, you were a fine horse."

"Timber," Breakdown smirked.

"Kind of feel sorry for this one, kind of," the warlord observed as the black shadowy essence fled from the dead body.

"Damn," Bulkhead muttered, "those whines made me feel like a monster killing it."

* * *

 _The 5_ _th_ _Colossus:_

" _It's a birb! A big angry birb!_ " Bumblebee squealed in joy.

"Meet Avion the Bird of Prey. She soars in the sky unopposed but is no stranger to hunting the weak."

"Avion, huh? Fitting, sounds like a Seeker name," Starscream chuckled.

"This one looks difficult like how am I supposed to get on it? Shoot it down from its stone perch?" Breakdown scoffed.

"Actually that's what you are supposed to do."

The blue mech's expression turned blank. "I was joking when I said that. Is that really how I get it to fly down?"

"Another puzzling Colossus we have to figure out how to climb?" Ratchet clicked his glossa, "Wonderful."

Arcee chose to approach the creature, keeping tabs it was watching her no matter where she went even under its tail but a problem arose. "Is this not how I get on this giant pigeon? What am I supposed to do?"

"Okay, this isn't working so what else can I do?" Wheeljack frowned.

"Maybe there's a place to stand or something?" Bulkhead pondered, making an "I don't know" gesture.

Megatron seemingly made sounds from his mouth indicating he was thinking deeply as he considered all available options of attacking the Colossus. He tapped his talons against the controller, turning his character to view his surroundings until he noticed three platforms under damaged ruins. His brows perked up carefully.

Soundwave swam to the platforms barely breaching the water's surface and stood on top with a central view of the creature from afar, briefly pondering the possible solutions to this puzzle before pulling out his bow with curiosity. What if he shot it?

The answer to that became clear as day when the Colossus' swirling blue eyes turned red and it glided off its perch towards him. Placing the bow away, he brought out his sword and leapt onto the creature as soon as its shoulder moss was visible.

"Come on, fried chicken," Knockout smiled as he stood on one of the platforms before releasing his arrow. It struck the bird-like giant and his grin grew wider as it drew closer.

Shockwave silently muttered, "Yes! Ten minutes it has been already. This had better be easy from here on out."

"That's how I was supposed to-that's bullshit! I wasted, what, almost a quarter of an hour trying to figure this out and that's all I had to do? Really?" Arcee growled.

" _Finally, some good fucking food_ ," Bumblebee buzzed. " _LEEROY JENKINS_!"

Optimus strategized his limited time on the large bird, attacking both weak spots on the wings and making sure he got to the backside in time to regenerate some of his stamina before finally running down the ridiculously long tail it had.

As the Colossus did a spin in pain when Megatron stabbed its wing, the Decepticon Leader accidentally released the grab button and his character fell to the lake below. The mech gave a hoarse, over exaggerated sigh with a neutral expression before turning his gaze towards the camera crew. He chuckled a little, "This is what happens when you get cocky. Now I have to shoot it down and go through all this trouble again."

The camerawoman hummed, "That's rough, man."

"Sometimes, you just got to clip their wings and sink the bird," Wheeljack said as he destroyed the second insignia on the creature's left wing. It shrieked and tried to shake him by doing a barrel roll before flapping its damaged limbs frantically to gain height.

The final blow hit home and Breakdown watched fixated as the Colossus dived straight into the water, dead on impact. It was like watching a giant Seeker being bombarded from the sky and the mech found himself slightly saddened from its departure.

"Avion, peck your heart out," Arcee clapped as she finally got the last insignia.

The Prime stared melancholic at the scene before him, twirling the controller in his palms in discomfort.

Ratchet had his optics drooping at the poor bird's demise but it was inevitable so he finished it as quickly as he could to skip to the next poor unfortunate Colossus boss battle. It was easy to tell he wanted to throw the PS4 out the nearest window.

"Twice the bird, the bigger the stone, right?" Bulkhead laughed.

* * *

 _The 6_ _th_ _Colossus_ :

"Barba the Giant is not going to be easy. He's more of a shaker than the rest of them."

"Yay…" Knockout uncharacteristically flat-toned.

"So we have to get him through three barriers to the other side of the room? How is this to be done?" Optimus inquired, thumbing the sticks of the controller impatiently.

Megatron clicked his glossa, "So it's basically a fall back situation until I get him in the correct place. This is going to be interesting and we will be on ground level the entire time so there's not many places to hide, are there?"

The Colossus emerged, peering around the room until it began to move forward as the game allowed the Cybertronians to move their characters and noticed them quickly before suddenly trying to stomp on Arcee and Shockwave. It started to chase the others instead, following them to one of the barriers.

"No, no, stay near your hide away please! You already scare me from a distance, up close and personal is definitely not preferred," Breakdown frowned.

" _How are we supposed to take on that?_ " Bumblebee glared in uncertainty as it began to target him.

"Oh shit, he's coming for me," Arcee whined. "He's really intent on chasing me. Like buddy, fuck off won't you?"

Wheeljack found a bit of amusement as the titan slammed its foot down on the wall, beginning a small cutscene of the barrier tumbling. "Whoo-hoo, that's how we do it. Keep up with me, Bigfoot, I have need of you before I kill you."

The barrier broke and Bulkhead moved his character through before a slight groan emitted from his vocals when he noticed there was another one. Climbing on top of the second barrier, he released his arrows on the Colossus, guiding it towards him before leaping off and letting it smash the wall with an angry fist.

Soundwave quickly jumped over all three walls but stood on the last one before whistling to summon the creature that managed to barely catch sight of him. With a brash attitude or the equivalent of, he simply stayed in place atop the wall as Barba slowly made its way through each wall. Roughly thirty seconds it took for the giant to finally shatter the last barricade but by then, the character was running under through the columns of the dead end.

"Sure, let's play hide and go seek with a lurking monster. Like that will end up fun," Starscream hissed as he narrowly missed a fist flying down.

Shockwave's audial fins raised high when he tried to outmaneuver the crushing foot of the Colossus but it barely knocked him away and he found himself down. Silently, he spammed "X" to get his character moving before another blow came.

"Try and hit me now, fucking broke ass Minotaur," Breakdown taunted. He smiled as the giant knelt to look into the chamber he was hidden in.

Ratchet kept whistling to keep the Colossus from wandering away. After a brief moment of frustration, the creature finally decided to peer into the dead end and in that moment, he took the opportunity to jump onto the beard which startled it to pull up as fast as it could.

"This is where things get shaky, right?" Bulkhead mused.

The red Decepticon climbed vigorously up to the head of the Colossus, pulling out his sword and did a good stab to it but it then began to madly jerk its head, causing the character to be jolted in multiple different directions. Scowling, he waited for it to stop and began a charge of stamina but before he could bring it down, it decided to shake again.

Megaton roared angrily, "Stop, Primus be damned! Let me kill you!"

"Are you done yet? This is like the third time he's shaking and I only get about two seconds worth of charge and he jerks before I can bring it down. Calm down, you big wussy," the femme huffed.

"He's not letting me do anything! I can't do my job which is ridiculous," Ratchet yelled.

Soundwave whirred a little strained as the Colossus kept bucking, restricting his mobility until he noticed his stamina bar was depleted. He watched as his character fell from his target onto the ground and the spymaster peered to the side in slight disappointment.

"There! Finally! Got a decent stab now I have to wait another minute and a half," Wheeljack grumbled.

When the insignia disappeared, it was now time to find the second one and Bumblebee ended up falling off its backside failing to grasp it waistline right below where the second sign appeared. " _I call bullshit!_ "

Arcee slipped down to the glowing target and immediately picked up a good charge, stabbing it vigorously before the Colossus roared in pain and shook again. "You're going to give yourself a headache like that...or brain damage whichever gives me an advantage."

"This is not as bad as his head but I ask kindly to please cease your struggles. This is not going to end well, dear friend," Optimus tutted.

With one final strike, Soundwave slammed the controller down shaking his own head in slight irritation. The others followed quickly despite some falling off beforehand.

"Thank you, Dormin, for your assistance!" Knockout sarcastically praised.

Megatron grumbled to himself as he watched Barba fall onto its stomach dead. "It took almost twenty minutes to get him killed. I wonder if the developers were just like 'let's take the hardest obstacle on this quest, the resistance of the Colossi, and charge it tenfold for this one Colossus'. That's not a fun mechanic but thanks for making it real, at least."

Shockwave shook his head, "This is not my favorite Colossus by far."

"Because it fought you to live?" The cameraman laughed.

"Yes, it is not logical to fight your death when it is inevitable. There is a moment when everything has to accept its fate."

"You're thinking way too hard about this."

* * *

 _The 7_ _th_ _Colossus_ :

"Meet Hydrus, he'll put a shock to your circuits. The lake is his domain, his mirage of safety. Don't fall for it."

"An eel?" Arcee stared dumbfounded.

"An underwater fight? This is awesome!" Clapped Megatron. "Whoo, can't wait!"

" _We're going to need a bigger boat._ " Bumblebee groaned.

Shockwave turned his helm in confusion, "A monster of electricity? In water? That does not seem logical."

The giant water serpent slowly lurked between pillars of ruin, electric barbs barely touching the surface crackling menacingly.

Bulkhead made his character head close to the eel with a bit of hesitation. "This isn't going to be like Jaws, is it? He's not going to suddenly spring up and bite me, right?"

"So we just follow him until he decides to attack us?" Ratchet scoffed as his character got above the head of the Colossus. "That'll end very well indeed...yeah no."

"Eat me, sea slug! Eat me! Bitch, you won't!" Breakdown taunted. The creature's eyes immediately turned red on cue and slowly turned towards him, drawing to the surface. "Okay, I take it back! Go away! I'm sorry!"

Soundwave moved an inch forward as the barbs pierced the water one by one, barely missing the electricity each time. When the tail end of the beast began to hit the surface, he latched on and watched as the creature grew frustrated, breaching the water almost entirely.

"Here comes the slap to the face," Knockout winced as the tail hit his character but he attached to it quickly.

Wander ran as soon as a portion of its body was revealed to be walked upon. Optimus carefully timed his steps, making his way to the first barb and stabbing the small glimpse of light pouring from it that shut off the electricity, saving him a brief shock.

Wheeljack made it to the first spine but before he could get a blow, the Colossus dipped down and his life bar decreased a far bit. "Didn't kill me, buddy. Sucks for you."

Breakdown made his way to the second barb and quickly ended the rush of electricity as did Starscream and Arcee but as he approached the third, the eel's head suddenly submerged but didn't return as all three were clinging onto it as it sank.

Starscream "Is it not going to come back up or-?"

"What the hell!? As soon as I get up to your thick skull, you chicken out!?" Arcee growled.

"That's stupid! Now we have to chase him down as bait again?" Bulkhead whined.

The eel twisted away but the few who did not catch the insignia followed it until it grew agitated again and floated upward with a single glowing barb.

The remaining mechs stabbed the last barb before it ducked below the water, a quick jerk of the head of the Colossus was the response. They each hovered over the insignia and ferociously knifed the creature, timing their blows before it submerged only to buck back up again in pain.

Finally, they managed to kill the beast with the last four bots trailing behind only a few minutes later.

"It's like watching the sinking of Titanic but with a monster instead," mused Wheeljack.

"There he goes," Megatron spoke, making his thumb point downward amused. "I keep hearing Miko saying eel tastes great but I have yet to try it."

"Hydrus, why did you have to make that so hard on yourself?" Optimus murmured.

" _Boom baby!...Drown the son of a bitch!_ " Bumblebee played.

* * *

 _The 8_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"Kuromori isn't like the other Colossi, he has a new line of defense not seen before. A tip would be don't get spotted...or hit."

"This lizard-looking bitch? What the fuck does that mean?" Breakdown scowled.

"So is it an insta-kill deal?" Starscream questioned, "Or it just puts you in a position where if you get knocked down, you may just be hit repeatedly before you can recover?"

Ratchet raised his brows in mockery, "So a Colossus can fight back? This is going to get good now."

As the bots approached the entrance to the barred area, a hiss rang out seemingly below them and the camera panned to what lied in the center. The reptilian-based Colossus shook in irritation almost sensing the presence of the intruder.

"It has glowing limbs so I'm assuming I'm supposed to shoot those. Let's try, shall we?" Wheeljack smirked.

He ran to a large opening in the wall of the colosseum and pointed the bow at the creature, shooting its forearm but the creature did nothing but stare up at him angrily before its mouth radiated a form of energy. Blasts narrowly missed his head and clouds of toxicity began to eat away at his health slowly.

"Shit, that's what you meant!?"

Arcee, Megatron, Bumblebee, and Soundwave whistled off the bat before surging to the stairway to the right, bolting down in the hopes the creature would not see them.

The others all did separate things including sneaking down to the second lowest level planning their attack, jumping off the ledge down below only to run for the stairs as soon as they were back up on their feet, and even doing something as stupid as walking right up to the creature and trying to climb it.

Most realized quickly that they had to distract the Colossus and the insignias were at least on its hidden stomach which made sense because reptilian underbellies were softer than any part of its anatomy. Nearly all of them bolted to the other side of the colosseum as soon as they lined a shot to coax it to scale the wall after them.

" _Oh, he's pissed,_ " Bumblebee exclaimed.

Shockwave ran down the stairs quickly, bringing out his bow as he head Kuromori blast away at the area he once stood above. When he got to the ground floor, the Colossus was already beginning to turn around. He quickly perked up, "That is not good."

Optimus shot one leg out from under it, leaving it confused and dangling before striking the rear leg parallel to it. The creature tumbled down onto its back and two insignias reverberated their light as he climbed the tail and began to stab it.

"That's how we do it, huh? I was just going in circles try to distract him and he kept spotting me on the opposite side. I didn't realize you had to use the stairs that quickly," Bulkhead chuckled.

As soon as Knockout made one insignia vanish, the monster decided to twist back around and he had seconds before it started to turn towards him. He ran back up the stairs to repeat the tense process once more.

Megatron managed to begin injuring the second insignia when it decided to flip around, only a quarter of its health remained. Soundwave also did this, quickly sprinting up to the first level and ran straight to the open area of the wall.

Breakdown, however, only got the Colossus down to one third of its health as it decided to awake faster than he anticipated. "You did not wake up that fast, that's bullshit!"

Wheeljack quickly sprinted towards the opening and whistled again before darting back and around to the stairs. "He's going to die this time, I can feel it!"

The two-wheeler accidentally whistled too early when the Colossus was facing her and it got several shots off, sending her flying back. Her health took very heavy damage and the clouds dwindling didn't help her case. She rapidly pressed "X" to awake her character and found she was down nearly two thirds of her health.

"Kuromori, you're a piece of-I...am going to skin you alive," she hissed.

Starscream got the creature on its back once more and hopped onto its stomach, clambering to its chest where the last remaining insignia lied. He didn't hesitate to end it and with one final stab, it reeled forward in a cry of pain and sank back down on its back lifeless.

Its last arch of life made Optimus entangle his servos uncomfortably, peering to the side while scrunching his lip plates with a wince.

"Ay, lizard stew. Absolutely no pity from me," Knockout grinned. "You scratch me, I kill you."

The dark essence of the Colossus sprayed and twisted before hitting Wander and bringing the boy into unconsciousness.

Megatron shook his head, "You said this was going to get harder further on...is this what you bastards meant?"

" _This bitch has gone crazy!_ " Bumblebee yipped.

"I hated this Colossus with an enraging passion, like this thing was terrible to verse. Who in their right mind would build such a creature assuming they were built by Dormin or the former civilization in the Forbidden Lands? What was its purpose? Was it a war machine? Like that tells me something happened here. That may be why everything's in ruins," Ratchet scowled.

"Die in a ditch, Kuromori! You dragon-ass motherfucker!" Arcee ranted.

"Arcee, language!" Optimus shouted from the other room.

"No, he deserves it! Fuck him!"

* * *

"So what did you think about the session and the Colossi you versed today?"

Starscream shrugged, "I personally didn't like them, all except the lake dweller. That one was fun."

"Fuck all of them, they can burn in the Pit," Breakdown crossed his arms smugly.

Megatron bit his lip, "Um...I have not much to say about these Colossi except the only one I actually felt a bit of sympathy for is the horse. That was kind of sad but other than that, I really wanted to bash those Colossi's heads in."

"It's over, it's done, I could care less about them," Ratchet sneered. "I really could. My guilt for killing them has boiled over so I just want to leave now. Thank you for having me."

Wheeljack laughed, "Oh I loved killing them, watching them squirm and die. Worthy opponents definitely. Ten out of ten, would kill again."

Soundwave gave several thumbs up including on his visor. He bowed a bit before steadily walking away from the crew stoically as if nothing had happened.

Arcee scoffed, "I had a bit of an anger issue near the end with Kuromori but Phaedra was great. I wasn't much of a fan of the others though. I apologize for the outbursts."

"I think they were moderate, not fun but also not too bad which kind of makes me wonder what the hell the others are going to be like?" Bulkhead whined, giving the cameraman a panicked look which sent the latter into a laughing fit.

Optimus tapped his digits together, "I feel still very guilty for what I have done, but I will continue to play to see what the effects of the damage I have done integrates into the story. I will not be at peace until the end."

"Those creatures should be studied as an example of what may be out there though some features the Colossi have are not logical attributes for their size and weight...but this is a video game so nothing is set as real life," Shockwave answered.

" _We're dead!...Oh, this is so messed up!...Heart attack!...Heart Attack!...Miniature Stroke!...Heart Attack!...Regular Stroke!_ " Bumblebee radioed.

"It was troublesome, but I got through it," Knockout smiled. "This game is really making me wonder if there's more to this story than what's been let on in which case, I'm very eager to see where this goes. It's probably going to be extremely sad, isn't it?"

"We can't say but it is a mind trip."

The red Aston Martin sighed, "I'm in for a crying session, I can see it now."

* * *

 **AN: See? I told you it got better! Next to be fought is Basaran through Phalanx and everyone gets frustrated as hell.**


	3. Part 3

**Characters: Arcee, Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Breakdown, Knockout**

* * *

 _The 9_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"Introducing Basaran, the immovable turtle. Be careful, he spits energy too."

"God...damn...you, developers! Why this shit again?" Breakdown growled.

Shockwave kind of moved his helm back an inch in surprise, "Now there are capable of defending themselves from here on out? This will make the game incredibly difficult."

"I prefer not to disturb such a peaceful creature as he has not done anything against me," Optimus mused.

"But Optimus, you have to," the camerawoman chuckled.

"Yes, but I do not want to," he stated, giving a rather cute puppy face.

Basaran began to stretch as it lifted itself off the ground menacingly before the camera panned towards the outside environmental view from its side. Immediately, bolts of yellowish orange shot in a cluster at them.

"Oh hell no, you did not just shoot your snout at me," Arcee sassily responded to the action.

"Agro, take me to safety!" Bulkhead said. As soon as he did, the bolts flew by again and one hit his steed which made him land harshly onto the ground while Agro ran in fear. "No, come back! Save me! Whelp, there goes my ride."

Megatron clicked his talons on his controller, "What to do, what to do? Those geysers have to be the key to climbing that thing, right? They wouldn't have placed such a hazardous element in the game for nothing."

A geyser shot upward next to Soundwave and the mech slowed his character to turn nonchalantly towards his foe while an idea sprung to mind. He hid to stay behind the effects of the geyser and shot at the Colossus as soon as it died down, prompting the massive creature to move towards him.

"So I have to get him to walk over the geyser? Well, he certainly doesn't want to come near me. He's just staring as if he knows what I'm planning," Knockout muttered. He shot at the beast and it simple moved a little to the side. "Come on, come and get me. Free food right here!"

Starscream got the creature to stand over the geyser but had to keep it from wandering away by staying near it. The Colossus grew agitated and reared to slam down as a warning like a startled horse.

Finally, the geyser reawakened and the Colossus drifted to the side a bit on only two legs revealing its miniature weak spots. Bumblebee quickly shot at them and the creature tumbled.

"Turnover! Let's see that insignia!" Wheeljack yapped excitedly.

Ratchet aimed the arrow wrong a few times and tried to reassert control but the Colossus regained its footing before he could topple it as the geyser died down. "That's not good. I messed up and now I have to risk being stomped to death again. Marvelous."

The others swiftly climbed onto Basaran's stomach but many noticed no symbol was present.

"Don't tell me we have to find a way to get to the head. Why add this part if I can't-oh wait never mind, I see what I have to do. That's baiting," Megatron snarled.

Shockwave huffed, "Misdirection, well done. It must be on its head. Quite the little puzzle in a game such as this."

All managed to climb to the shell to hang on as the Colossus tipped back over on the first try and went their separate paces to navigate the backside. Arcee, Optimus, and Knockout were the most cautious, keeping still and crouching whenever the Colossus tried to shake them off. Others like Soundwave, Megatron, Wheeljack, and Ratchet just bolted for it, keeping centered as much as possible to prevent slipping through the spaces between its spikes.

As they all attached to the insignia, each one brutally saw to end it. The creature of course fought back with its life, shaking its head vigorously with a very little time frame between to stab its weak point. It even reared its head in an attempt to throw its opponents back down its shell.

"Don't fight it, I have all day," Arcee chirped.

Breakdown was becoming frustrated, "You Ninja Turtle reject, quit raging! This is why Splinter didn't let join!"

Finally, the insignia bore one last strike before succumbing to its injuries. The Colossus slid down to rest, its limbs twisting in two separate ways.

" _Booyah! I don't know who you are or where you're from, but Atlas I just kicked your virtual butt!_ " Bumblebee squealed in delight.

"Basaran, you tried man," Bulkhead nodded.

Starscream playfully flicked the joystick on the controller as he watched the mammoth being tumble. "Everyone falls eventually. He would have made quite an excellent offensive player in our war if he was real."

"This thing looks very ugly," Ratchet winced, "I don't know what to think about it. A part of me actually says it's good its dead."

"You aren't going to like the next one then," the cameraman snickered.

The medic gave an expression of slight disturbance, "What's the next one look like? Please tell me I'm not going to get scared. Seriously, what is it?"

* * *

 _The 10_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"Can you spot Dirge? No? Well be weary, he can see you and be careful, he bites."

"A sand pit? Oh no, is it lurking under the sand!?" Bulkhead groaned.

Wheeljack made a surprised, cautious face, "I'm actually not liking this. This looks no fun whatsoever."

As the cutscene played, a giant body barely breached the surface. It tunneled through the sand effortlessly as it turned to the presence of Wander.

"Oh no, no...no, no, no, I am not dealing with that sand worm from Beetlejuice, am I?" Arcee stuttered.

Ratchet grinder his denta together in a neutral expression, "How exactly are we supposed to fight that?"

The spine barb of the creature was the only thing visible as it circled the vast pillars of rock in the arena and slowly made its way to the character. A soft rumbling followed it until it began to get close, chasing Agro suddenly.

Megatron made Agro run as the creature started to tail him, the rumbling growing until the entire screen shook. When he turned around to face the Colossus, his optics grew wide with slight fear. "What in the Pit is that!? W-what is that!? Are those its optics!?"

"Holy motherfu-yo, that's not right! Oh my god those eyes are the stuff of nightmares!" Breakdown screamed, quickly bringing out his bow and aimed at the eyes.

" _That thing looks like it came out of a Stephen King movie!_ " Bumblebee gasped.

"If that isn't the scariest thing I've ever seen," Knockout narrowed his optics with a hint of uncertainty.

Soundwave gained stability and hit the Colossus in the eye, earning a whine as it started to barrel roll towards the cavern wall. When it hit, it seemed to have gotten stuck and he spared no second in climbing the terrifying beast.

Several of them didn't hit the eyes in time before the creature lunged out of the ground and tried to swallow them.

"Oh scrap, it has a mouth!?" Starscream panicked.

"As if this thing could not get any more horrifying!?" Arcee shouted.

Shockwave was able to dodge it and paced on Agro until it decided to greet him again whereas Optimus had been hit by it and his character was knocked out. Thankfully, the beast saw no reason to come after him even as it moved close by until he saddled himself up top on Agro...then it did a sluggish U-turn towards him.

Breakdown snapped, "I'm ready now, bitch! Attack me again, I dare you!"

The second time, most of them managed to hit the sand serpent in the eye and it spiraled out of control until it hit the wall where it was trapped. Everyone but Ratchet and Starscream ran up the spine of the creature and stabbed the large insignia on its lower back, whimpers from the Colossus ever present. It tried to buck them off but its motions were too powerful compared to Colossi prior.

"Third time's a charm, Ratchet?" The cameraman chortled.

"Shut up," the mech rattled.

As soon as the insignia disappeared, so did Dirge. It retreated into the sands with a black blood trail spraying in the air indicating where it was.

Bumblebee didn't hesitate to approach Agro and perch himself, his bow taking the place of his sword. " _Run Away, ya dirty coward._ "

Bulkhead began to chase the bleeding entity with a grin on his face, "Where do you think you're going, huh? Not so fun when someone chases you!"

Immediately, the blood calmed down and the serpent turned as fast as it could making the likes of Bulkhead, Shockwave, and even Soundwave steer Agro away startled at the sudden change in its mood.

Wheeljack felt the rumbling grow as the screen also followed suit and when he changed the forward view of the camera, his face turned deadpanned. "You're back for more? Fuck me..."

"Aw no, he we go again," Megatron murmured as Dirge made his controller shake like crazy.

The Colossus gave a high-pitch mule whistle as its obnoxiously large orange eyes stared at Wander hungrily. But once again, its eye took damage and it spun around in pain. This time, Ratchet was able to hit it first try and tried to make his subduing of the beast to the point.

The second time the Colossus crashed, everyone scrambled to kill it. Their reasonings seem to have been mostly because they didn't want to look at its face of dread ever again. As the final blow was struck, everyone cheered.

Soundwave pointed at himself rather happily, slightly giving a fist pump and nodding in victory.

"I will not lie, I was a bit distracted by the eyes of the Colossus. That was indeed a bit out of my comfort zone," Optimus glared.

" _I don't fuck with YOU!_ " Bumblebee cheered.

Knockout clapped rather sarcastically, "Congratulations, you scared the shit out of me this round. Kudos, boys, kudos!"

* * *

 _The 11_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"The answer to defeating the mighty yet nimble Celosia lies in the heart of the temple. Best pray you can outrun her."

"Is that a bull? An elephant-tiger mix? What it that?" Megatron questioned.

The Colossus clambered up to the ledge, roaring at the intrusion. It jumped down before stomping around and sliding to shake angrily at Wander.

"Oh shit, that thing's as big as an ox which you would think would be a relief compared to the others but that thing's fast and vicious! Size apparently does matter," Breakdown chuckled.

Starscream stared at it skeptically, "That...doesn't look right."

"I'm thinking it's a bull," Wheeljack huffed, "But the horns on the jaw do make it look stupid."

The bull-like creature snarled and charged. Most managed to jump away but some got hit.

"I jumped! I jumped! You saw, I jumped!" Bulkhead growled.

Arcee moaned, "Come on, baby, get up. I'm about to die."

Optimus ducked behind the flame-lit stone in the narrow corner as the beast grew unsettled, running around in circles trying to coax its prey. He stared in thought at it before he moved his camera to pan up the small tower. "I wonder..."

Shockwave climbed to tower and crouched near the fire but noticed the creature slid in front of it, eyes turning red and finally it charged, banging into it. It shook off any pain and continued to lock on to the invader. A stick, however, clattered off from the hit which made him realize what he had to do.

"This thing's got some anger issues," Knockout chided.

Ratchet observed his surroundings for a good period of time before the voice of Dormin echoed a hint. "Thank you, stalker voice in my head. Appreciate it."

Bumblebee quickly ran to the stick and grabbed it before sprinting back to the fiery tower in fear. He raised the stick to the fire and sure enough, it became a torch. He whistled excitedly, " _Just like fire, burning out the way, if I could light up the world for just one day...just like fire!_ "

Soundwave brought the torch in front of the beast and slowly, it began to back up in fear.

"Aw, the poor thing's afraid. Now just stay still so I can light your ass on fire," Arcee muttered.

Breakdown narrowed his optics as he studied the Colossus fearfully eye the flames, "You'd think a bull would not fear something like that unless it's a cat because cat's are very weary of stuff like this. Bulls aren't."

Closer to the edge they brought it, some even swinging the torch to emit a slight stutter in movements from it. Eventually, the beast got one leg dangling over the edge and lost its footing, hitting the lower cliff with its backside. The armor shattered and the creature lied their dazed with the insignia glowing ever so prominently.

Each one of them jumped down, losing a small bit of health in the process, and stood just above it. At their respective times, they hopped onto its back and tried to get a stab through as it got up. A few managed to do it but some were shaken before they could bring their sword down.

Raging, the bull-tiger began to run several feet before pausing and shaking, repeating the process many times as it made its way back up to the temple of fire.

"God damn, just let me do my job!" Bulkhead whispered rather sharply.

Ratchet shook his head, "And you said Barba shakes the most. That's complete bullscrap."

"You know, this is really getting old! I want to stab him so bad!" Knockout yelled.

The Colossus made it to the temple but kept running around inside it in circles, allowing still a very minimal charge time. Some of the bots grew impatient and hopped off, making a break for the towers of fire again. Others clung to the beast, debating what their final moves would be to get enough time to injure it.

Finally, all of them jumped off despite one or two managed to get some shots off and climbed the fire stalks, waiting for the bull to crash into it again. It did and the reaction was the same, it simply shrugged off the hit but this time, the back was clearly exposed so they all dove straight for it as it stopped shaking, several blows were indeed achieved.

"Now we have a method, baby! Woohoo!" Wheeljack yipped.

The Colossus took rough five stabs but eventually, it was dead. In the middle of the room, the creature grew lifeless. Its husk of a body collapsed on its side and the dreaded black bands of darkness poured out to claim Wander as a new host.

Megatron gave an exaggerated sigh, "Fucking finally! Please tell me there's not another one like that."

"There is," the camerawoman heaved.

The warlord bit his lips darkly, "I want to step on it and its twin and crush it under my heel just to hear the satisfying crunch."

"That was not how I thought it would go but I am content to end it," Shockwave breathed.

"The defenseless creature's life will not be in vain," Optimus said in a sluggish baritone not usually heard unless he was sad or conflicted. The camera crew could guess why.

" _To_ _ro, dulce toro, eras un oponente digno_ ," Bumblebee whimpered.

* * *

 _The 12_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"Pelagia has eyes in the water but cannot see. To beat him, you must outsmart him."

The Colossus rose up from the water, its back covered in moss as Wander stood in the middle of the lake ruins gazing up at it. It bellowed like a whale, its horns blue tipped with energy but it had no eyes, only a knight-like mask engraved into its head.

"Oh no, another water one? What do you mean he can't see? What do you-by Primus what is that!?" Ratchet sputtered.

Breakdown sounded loudly, "Holy shit, that thing has no eyes? What the fuck is that?"

"I'm legit scared right now. What is that?" Arcee studied the creature intensely, "Is it like a tortoise with slug eyes because if it is, I'm getting hell out of here."

Soundwave reared his head back before turning it to the side, quickly glancing at the beast then back as if he didn't know what to think of the monstrosity.

Its blue tips turned common orange and it shot at all of the bots' characters. Only some dived to prevent being blasted, the others lost a few health portions and eventually got the idea they weren't supposed to stay above the surface as they immediately swam to the nearest canopy. The Colossus followed, occasionally shooting at the protagonist despite being "blind".

"No, don't follow me! Stay back there, go sulk around in the sun, pretend I don't exist!" Knockout grumbled.

Bulkhead started to swim around the edge of the ruins, hiding behind one of the outliers completely opposite to the beast's view. The Colossus then drifted right to try and search for him but failure on his part to move quick enough, it caught sight of him and tried to fire, the blasts getting caught on the stones.

Starscream also tried this along with Wheeljack and they moved against the Colossus' view. As it went left, they went right until it started to go straight almost convinced they had swam out instead.

Others like Shockwave, Bumblebee, and Optimus hid behind the little stump of rock in the middle of the canopy and slowly crawled around as Pelagia grew agitated, losing sight of the character.

" _Now you see me, now you don't,_ " the yellow muscle car taunted.

As the Colossus' back was turned, Megatron swam behind it hoping he wouldn't alert it. When he got close enough, it began to turn and he immediately adjusted his movements to counter it until he finally reached the moss-covered shell.

Wheeljack laughed, "You think you can out swim me, boy?"

As steady as possible, they each found their way up the backside of the enormous sea dweller and reached the top even when it dipped its head to shake, brushing the water ever so moderately.

"Are these teeth? Eww, so was there more to this Colossus or...?" Knockout frowned, making a disgusted face in the process.

Ratchet shrugged, "Now what? Can we hit the teeth? They are glowing."

Arcee hit the strange rock figures and suddenly the Colossus merged right with a delicate roar of pain. She instantly made a confused face but it changed to that of an expression of accomplishment.

"Oh okay, that doesn't make sense but good design choice. I mean they had to keep the Colossus under control somehow when it was among the early civilization here, right?" Megatron smirked.

They each steered the Colossus until it was almost hovering over the roof of the canopy. Some took too long and the voice of Dormin reappeared to help them.

"The power of Primus compels thee. Fuck off, demon!" Breakdown growled.

Most of them jumped onto the platform and hid behind the outpost while some fell a little short back to the lower level, having to do the entire process again. Those who hid noticed the Colossus carefully observing if any movement would come of Wander but they all held him still. It fired a few more shots before becoming frustrated and rearing up, exposing its underbelly.

Taking that moment to strike, Optimus leapt onto the insignia and fully charged his strikes after the second stab, he had leveled the beast to half health which made it fall back down and lurch forward, shattering the building to barely the floor.

"He didn't like that, did he?" Starscream spoke amusedly, "The abdomen for us is definitely the most sensitive."

Once again, the Colossus followed them as they swam from their lives towards the nearest intact canopy. Sound wave gave several gestures as the blasts hit above him, most likely taunting the beast that it was a "terrible shot".

"Alright, come on, come on, come on, we're doing this scrap again," Knockout scoffed.

A few of them stayed in the water as they mislead the Colossus into think they had left while the others again ducked behind the stone stub in the middle of the site. The Colossus fell for it, and moved ahead of the canopy with a growl.

It didn't take long for them to get back on the Colossus and lure it back to the canopy roof, learning well from the first experience. Pelagia roared as it lifted up to seat its feet onto the structure, its abdomen gleaming.

"Time to end this," Arcee smiled.

They latched onto its belly and stabbed relentlessly until it gave one last roar and the cutscene played. Pelagia reared back before tipping to its right and sinking below the water, leaving Wander to swim helplessly until the black essences attacked him. He lied almost dead in the water.

Megatron gave a small "hmph". He then smirked, "That thing freaks me out and I'm kind of glad I killed it. Imagine the civilization that lived here had to deal with being watched but they couldn't see what was observing him. I would have high-tailed it out of there if I knew something like that was staring at me."

"Another sinking of the Titanic, another one bites the dust," Wheeljack clapped.

"That creature was only defending its home, a place we should have never disturbed," Optimus inquired. "I fear my urge to progress is making me a bad person."

" _Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. It's contrast,_ " Bumblebee shrugged.

* * *

 _The 13_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"Phalanx, the sky dragon. Can you bring her down?"

Phalanx roared with a high pitch, erupting from the sand. Its body twisted midair and navigated to glide upright. Three eyes scoped the land as it soared above while small fins helped keep balance. It drifted so calmly over Wander, circling like a hawk.

"So beautiful of a creature," Shockwave purred. "I would love to study her."

Starscream breathed heavily, "Oh that doesn't look good. And I'm supposed to bring it down how?'

Bulkhead had his servos clasped together, placed vertically against his mouth, "What...what possibly can be done against something like that? That thing has to be a mile long so how are we going to find its weak points exactly?

"That's not good! It's rather pretty but that's not good!" Knockout squealed and laughed at the same time. "That's a nightmare, that's what that is!"

The Colossus flew past Agro and Wander, its air pouches hissing as it kept a good height from the ground.

Arcee got on the horse and peered up at the creature, observing what she could possibly do. "I'm not sure but I think those bulbous tumors are glowing so that means they are destructible."

Running to keep up, Megatron escorted Agro under the titan and raised his bow high. He shot up but the arrow drifted off course as they were both moving. He snarled and raised his bow again, this time aiming far before the sacks where he predicted the monster would roam to. As soon as he was sure, he released it. The Colossus whimpered as one cluster of air pockets deflated, lowering it slightly.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere," Wheeljack smiled.

Ratchet scoffed, "Just shoot it in one of its three optics, that'll bring it down pretty quickly."

Attacking the cluster of air sacks just below its neck proved to be the hardest of the three for most because there was no predicting where Phalanx would turn so the shot miss rate was very high.

Soundwave made an aggressive motion as the Colossus over right, his arrow going past its head. He almost threw his controller after the fifteenth time shooting at the damn evasive dragon.

Bumblebee managed to hit the last sack and slowly, the Colossus sank to graze the sand with its fins, roaring angrily. He followed it as it tried to get away and jumped onto the ridges on the back fin, climbing as fast as he could before it decided do something stupid to get rid of him.

Some kept missing the fin ridges or clasping them too low where the fin scraped the sand and blew them off. Optimus groaned, "Do not test my patience, Phalanx."

Breakdown yelled, "This bitch thinks she can outsmart me? The fuck he's gonna!"

In ally, all managed to climb Phalanx and slowly it rose back up rumbling as the air sacks repaired themselves. They all noticed he huge flaps located on the spine and found the first insignia. None of them hesitated to stab the creature's weak spot. As soon as they struck enough times, the insignia disappeared and it began to rock back and forth as most of them darted to the second flap of webbing. It finally did a loop and as soon as it finished, many began striking the second insignia.

"Whoohoo, roller coaster ride!" Bulkhead sarcastically replied.

Very few like Soundwave and Arcee managed to strike down the second insignia before the appendage closed. Those who did managed to get to the third insignia and stabbed it until the death scene played. The others had only stabbed the second insignia once before they were booted from trying and the Colossus sank below the waves of sand, sending the characters brushed aside like a piece of trash.

"Are you kidding me?" Ratchet snapped, getting back on Agro and searching for the runaway creature.

Bumblebee grumbled, " _I loved the whole sand wall trick. It was beautiful. Bastard._ "

The remaining few clambered into the same pattern as soon as Phalanx reemerged from its home environment. Preparing the bow once more, Optimus strategically shot the neck cluster of sacks and the Colossus gave a roar. He aimed for the others, this time not missing a single hit.

Slowly, the Colossus sank again too close to the ground before it was brushing against the sand. Starscream didn't hesitate to time his jump right and quickly scaled the ridged fin determined to finish what he started. Running down its back as it rose up, he slid into position and stabbed the second insignia, vanquishing it.

The third and final insignia was disposed of very fast with Knockout taking into account he didn't want to risk having to do the entire process again. With one final strike, it was over. The Colossus bellowed a whine but lost its momentum and aerial pressure sacks where it tumbled out of the sky onto the sand below. Its body caked with black venom, some tried to run away for the hell of it but in the end, the essence still got them.

"That was the largest Colossus I've ever seen! Seeing that in real life? Oh hell no!" Arcee mocked.

Wheeljack put his hands in prayer, "Rest in peace, dragon. You were amazing but you weren't strong enough."

Breakdown gawked, "I'm pretty let down. I thought it would put up more of a fight. Big softie that thing is. All it did was run away like a scared little baby."

"Don't you think your quest to kill it would scare it if it could sense your intention?" The cameraman questioned.

"That doesn't mean it can't fight me to survive. Mech up or die, that's my motto," the ex-Wrecker laughed.

* * *

"So what did you think of today's session?" The camerawoman asked.

Optimus was collected, seemingly depressed from continuing his violent act of genocide despite it was only a game. He moaned, "I just have a terrible feeling of what is to come. I know something is wrong with this game. There is more to it than just killing an innocent species for a woman."

Arcee clapped, "I'm loving this! Like I'm really intrigued to find out what happens!"

Knockout chuckled, "The end is near, huh? Only three more Colossi and the big finale to go. My new favorite has to be Phalanx. He's so awesome!"

"Dirge and Pelagia are the two scariest Colossi I think I've ever seen. That was a trip of a boss fight," Bulkhead remarked.

Megatron muttered, "These Colossi are just getting more disturbing as time goes on. Like who in their right mind designed that cave sand worm? Nightmare fuel, is what that is. I wouldn't even want something like that even on the same planet as me."

"It was a bit different compared to the other creatures in the last two sessions, more puzzling and dangerous though Kuromori is still up there. Pelagia was probably the coolest out of all of them though," Starscream recalled.

Soundwave gave an exaggerated, dramatic show of hands towards the ceiling as if to ask God or Primus "why"?

The yellow scout chirped, " _Oh, good. For a moment there I thought we were in trouble._ "

Shockwave tapped his claws together menacingly, "Poor creatures, they deserved more."

"I don't know about you but I'm kind of skeptical if the ending's gonna be worth it. I feel I'm going to regret something at the end of this and I don't like feeling regretful," Wheeljack barked.

Ratchet heaved a loud, over contemplating sigh, "You guys have certainly dug a ditch for me. I don't even know what's right or wrong right now."

Breakdown whistled, "You have the ending down, I know it and it's going to be a cluster fuck, isn't it? Embrace the pain, I say. Whatever comes, I'll be ready for it...and Pelagia and Dirge and Celosia can go to hell."

* * *

 **AN: The finale is upon us and by god, it is long because unlike the intro, I actually made more context to the ending and their reactions to it so it's going to be either really interesting or really boring.**


	4. Part 4

**Characters: Arcee, Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Breakdown, Knockout**

* * *

 _The 14_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"You've met Celosia, now meet her sister, Cenobia. She'll be your worst nightmare on the ground."

As Wander was navigated to approach the temple in the background, a large lion-like creature awoke and shook its head. Roaring, it clambered down the broken stairs before running after the character with an untamable rage.

"That thing looks so fucking vicious," Breakdown gasped. "I-I don't think I can verse it head on, can I?"

" _Behold the king of the beasts!_ " Bumblebee joked.

Megatron breathed heavily, "This is going to suck...badly."

"It is a beautiful specimen but I am not allowed to spare it unfortunately. This game would be better if I had this option," Optimus mused solemnly.

The Colossus snarled and ran at the character as Bulkhead maneuvered him to dodge it. He accidentally fell into the small ruin canyon but looked up only to find Celosia pacing above him, waiting to kill.

Shockwave launched himself to the nearest fallen pillar and sat on it as the Colossus hit it hard trying to dislodge him from his position. "No, no fighting. Hurting me is not logical."

Climbing up from the pillar to the overview of the broken walls, Arcee watched as the creature ran rampant below following her. She smiled, "Does the kitty want to play? Scratch my back, I break yours."

"He looks pissed! Oh, he's pacing me. He's ready for me to slip up," Knockout laughed.

Soundwave climbed the vertical standing pillar until he reached the top ledge where he paused and a few seconds later, the Colossus rammed into it but the pillar did not fall. Standing on the top, he prepared his bow and aimed downward, hitting the creature in its rear and watching its eyes turn orange. It fumed and quickly turned back before realigning itself and once again hit the pillar with its head. This time the pillar tumbled and landed beside another structure to scale.

" _It's going down, I'm yelling timber!_ " Bumblebee gawked as he quickly ran to the next platform and climbed it.

Wheeljack cringed as it roared at him as he stood on the pillar but before he could take his first shot, it scrambled the pillar as a warning and he nearly fell off. "Hey, fuck off! I'm only doing my job!"

Ratchet made it to the second pillar easily, then the third, and finally the fourth before the large monolithic tower that stood proud and mostly inaccessible to civilians at one point since no stairs were present. He shot at Celosia to test if it would ram and tumble the tower but it never could.

Jumping on the fifth and final pillar, Starscream prepared to fire. The beast lined up with his shot perfectly and he nailed it, driving the Colossus to pound the pillar. It fell but a cutscene played and the wall of stone leading to the entrance broke.

"Aw damn, now I have to book it over to that ledge without getting hit. Son of a bitch," Breakdown snarled.

Arcee tried to make it to the stairs but the Colossus managed to hit her and knock her out. Spamming the "X" button, she was in a state of panic. "No, no, I did not come all this way to die like this! Come on, you inglorious bastard! You owe me your soul if I die."

Scaling the wall, Optimus observed the creature pacing below and noticed the slab of stone perched on the unstable rock face. He raised a brow before standing on it. "I get the feeling this is not going to end well for me."

They each shot the Colossus and watched it twist around angrily. One strike on the column keeping the platform up and the entire thing came crumbling down. Some like Shockwave, Bumblebee, and Starscream managed to jump away to a portion that didn't topple while others like Megatron, Soundwave, and Wheeljack fell with it. The Colossus seemed to have broken its mane armor and damaged its head as it pulled out of the wreckage. Shaking feverishly, it roared again. The backside was now open for attack.

"Time to go, I'm on ground floor with this thing. It's going to kill me," Ratchet sighed blandly.

Bulkhead perched on top of the fallen pillar and waited as it fumed, dragging its heel against the ground like a bull ready to charge. It rammed the pillar again but this time, it went limp and whimpered a little. Taking his chance, he leapt on it and began stabbing away.

"Not so tough now, huh?" Megatron mocked, "Without your armor, you are nothing."

Striking this Colossus proved easier than its counterpart, Cenobia, because now it was subdued whenever it banged its head for a longer period of time. Many of them kept using the same pillar near the beginning as their weapon instead of wandering the remaining area. It didn't take long before the aggressive beast was killed, slowly flipping to its side with lifeless holes for eyes.

Soundwave made a cute cheering gesture and bowed before sitting back and relaxing as the cutscene played.

"As beautiful of a Colossus that was, he needed to die. He was too vicious and ain't nobody got time for that," Knockout nodded sadly.

The grey Seeker twirled his thumbs, "Only two more to go. Time flies so fast when you are busy killing monsters."

"Look at what you have made me do. Now I feel so sorrowful that this magnificent beast is gone. I hate you. You cannot see it but I am not happy with any of you," Shockwave hissed.

* * *

 _The 15_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"Beware Argus, the guardian of the lost city. It'll be your tomb if you don't think fast."

A hand rose to grasp the cliff ledge then another popped up holding a sword-like weapon before the terrifying face and upper body of the Colossus lurched upward. It bellowed as it stood upright, targeting the character with malicious intent.

"Shit, um...he's not what I was expecting when I saw his idol. I'm legit afraid of this thing," Wheeljack stuttered.

Ratchet gave a brief sound that may have been a gulp or whimper, "Oh, that's not good. That's very Cybertronian and human looking. That makes me question a few things."

Bulkhead glanced up and down at it, "That thing is ripped! So unlike the others there's probably not any way to hurt it enough to kneel or anything, is there? Damn, he looks better than me. I'm kind of jealous."

Shaking his head, Starscream coughed, "I am going to die on this one, I just know it. That's just something you don't mess with like at all."

The Colossus raised his foot as many of the Transformers turned their characters away. The impact made some stumble but others timed the jumps just right to dodge the shock of it. Some stayed near the Colossus trying to scout for possible insignias and routes to its head. It was discovered quickly that climbing it wasn't an option but the lost city had its environmental structure that could be scaled.

Arcee quickly ran to the nearest possible ledge she could use to get to a higher level, the problem was no stepping stones or anything. She couldn't jump to reach it nor was there any leverage. Peering around, none of the other ledges had any supporting blocks to climb on either.

A few kept going in circles, making sure there wasn't another way up before resorting to using the Colossus itself whereas many finally decided to stay in one place and let the monster come to them.

Argus stopped beside them and slowly turned, sometimes overstepping and realigning itself. As soon as it felt like it had its prey, it lifted its foot down to crush Wander.

"You missed, asshole! Trying aiming for me on the actual platform! Don't side-step me, you bitch!" Breakdown groaned as he watched the platform next to him rise up instead of the one he wanted. He tried to get a running start off of the second platform but the Colossus removed its hoof before he could complete the jump.

Others had problems with the A.I. not wanting to bring its foot up and down on them. Soundwave shook his head in severe disappointment as Argus kept turning left to right almost in confusion.

Finally, the creature did what they wanted and Optimus pared no moment to getting up the ledge to the second floor. The ceiling plates were obviously unstable so he presented his bow and took pot shots off the Colossus, attempting to anger it.

It managed to get provoked enough to swing its sword at the building's side and the ceiling indeed toppled to create stone steps to scale the remainder of it.

Bumblebee made a bleep noise as if he was giving a raspberry at the Colossus. " _Whoever threw that, you're mom's a hoe._ "

Climbing up to the rooftop where three bridges were attaching to the other wall of the city, Megatron kept shoot arrows at the creature to lure it near the bridge he stood on. When the Colossus drew close enough, it swung its sword up and shattered the complex. Now he had a perfect view of the head of the beast.

He smiled, "Time to die, you ugly bastard."

Shockwave jumped off the bridge as soon as the Colossus was close and immediately began stabbing its insignia. Argus roared and tried to shake him off with two mighty sequences of resistance.

"Another shaker? Don't they ever learn?" Starscream growled.

After the insignia fled from sight, many climbed all over the Colossus trying to find the second one but a few like Soundwave noticed a little light near its elbow. Climbing down, he struck it and sure enough, the giant let go of its sword. A coarse whimper emitted from the beast before shaking its arm down menacingly.

Some accidentally fell off too early trying to find the second insignia and had to climb the entirety of the city again while others followed suit and managed to make the titan drop his weapon, revealing the light they were searching for.

Ratchet drew its attention by splattering it with arrows to make it throw down its hand. Like its foot though, some of them had trouble getting the A.I. to comply.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Bulkhead gasped.

Knockout scowled, "Do your thing, Gigantor! I don't have all day!"

The Colossus eventually swung its hand down and Breakdown didn't latch onto it in time, causing the Wrecker to curse loudly. Several others found the hand either knocked them out because they didn't dodge in time to leaving the ground before they could determine where to latch onto that was available.

It took a minute or more for most but finally, many found a way onto the hand though some fumbled and fell off causing more cursing and less productivity.

"Die, damn it, die!" Wheeljack bellowed as he went crazy on the insignia.

Stabbing the hand finally proved fruitful when the Colossus' eyes turned black and the large being came down. One last roar it managed to sound as it went down, tumbling on its front. Wander once again fled as some controlled him to do so but none ever got away.

"Valus, eat your heart out. Like god damn that bitch wouldn't die! It's like he knew we were going to kill him so he was debating attacking us and giving us an access point to kill him from. That was smart, scary smart for this creature," Arcee smirked.

The cameraman smiled back, "The last Colossus is ridiculously intelligent so if you thought Argus was considerate, you're in for a surprise."

"Aw no, the finale Colossus is OP! That's not fair," she scoffed.

Megatron huffed, "The last one isn't going to be easy, that's obvious but to what extent? I kind of want a heads up before I go into battle with the big bad of the Colossus Empire."

"Stupid piece of-that bitch wouldn't die! He knew, he absolutely knew what I was going to do! That's stupid!" Breakdown snarled.

"A very vicious entity. Obviously, it was trained to guard that city with its life and it certainly tried its best. My condolences," Shockwave muttered.

* * *

On the way to the last Colossus, many of the Transformers were asked to "not skip anything". It was a confusing order as they didn't usually do it regardless but for the camera crew to remind them of it meant something was going to happen majorly.

"Go Agro, take me to victory!" Knockout whooped.

All of them reached the gate to the final Colossus and some wandered aimlessly next to it trying to figure out what to do.

Soundwave glanced briefly at the sunlit circle and turned his head slightly before raising his sword and slowly brought the light to the center. A beautiful tune sounded as the doors magically opened. The mech whistled impressed and snapped his fingers almost as if to clap for figuring out the puzzle.

"That's all we had to do?" Wheeljack questioned, "And here I was thinking there was a switch like in Ico to open that gate."

They each made their way up the stairs with Agro carrying them except Bulkhead who at first thought Agro couldn't and tried to cross the bridge by foot. It didn't end well. Agro was often times backed up to get a running start but some managed to get her to jump in the first try with so short a runway.

She sped across the bridge as piece by piece it broke with Wander holding tightly. When she jumped to the final piece of bridge, it gave way and before she went down, her last act of heroism was to save her master by propelling him forward. She fell with the remaining bridge to the ravine below. Wander shouted her name but no response came, no movement.

"No! You bitches never said Agro dies! What the fuck!?" Arcee cried.

Optimus had an expression of distraught as Agro made her sacrifice, "This is...not what I had expected. I am deeply sorry for endangering her."

"You! You! And you! You're on my shit list! I hope you know that!" Wheeljack angrily stared.

"That's not right, no! Poor Agro. Like...did she deserve this? Why would they do this? That's just fucked up," Megatron whined.

Ratchet's face twisted to one of regret and anguish, "I take back everything I said about this horse. He didn't deserve a fate like that."

"Maybe Dormin revives her? No? That's not happening?" Knockout sniffed.

"Ah! AH! NO AGRO! God...damn...it! Why Dormin, why would you curse her fate like that? That's bull, she did not deserve that and you know it, you freak!" Bulkhead whimpered.

Starscream rubbed his optics, "I'm not crying...it's just...a little stuffy in here."

" _Goodbye may seem forever, farewell is like the end, but in my heart is a memory and there you'll always be,_ " Bumblebee sorrowfully radioed.

"The poor animal. He was very loyal in the end and he will be remembered," Shockwave glumly said.

Soundwave didn't move, didn't twitch and slowly the controller fell from his servos. Several different emojis and video clips popped up as he carefully turned his head toward the camera crew. He didn't stop either which really creeped them out.

"I-I...no, no, no. This has to be a joke, right? Another dream sequence because that's not-no! That's terrible, dude! What-who thought this was okay? Where's the script writers? I want a fucking word with them!" Breakdown frowned.

* * *

 _The 16_ _th_ _Colossus:_

"Malus has waited patiently for a worthy opponent and you've made it this far. Are you up to end it all?"

Levels of a building began to move as the camera panned up to reveal a torso bound to stay in one place with its feet implanted into the ground. A magnificent being flexed its clawed hands, energy bands on its arms swirling with power. Horns lining its head almost like hair or a helmet of sorts. In fact, it almost looked...human.

"He's actually rather handsome, holy shit! I kind of don't want to kill him because of that. Then again if I said that about all the Decepticons I've met then this war would have never ended when it did and the Autobots probably would have lost because one of the people I killed was vital in Megatron's army and he was a handsome bastard so..." Arcee laughed.

"Oh, that's a large one! Damn, that's what gives _Shadow of the Colossus_ its name and purpose right there," Knockout gulped.

Cracking his neck, Ratchet grumpily scoffed, "This is it, the big kahuna as the humans would say. Let's bring this bitch down so I can go home."

"One last Colossus?" Shockwave breathed, "Very well then, it is time to end this."

The Colossus raised its hand as Wander approached and fired an immediate bolt into the barrier that protected the characters from it.

"That thing can shoot at us too?" Bulkhead stared in awe and fear.

Breakdown quickly dipped behind the fallen pillar to the right where a bunker lied and barely missed being sniped by a blast which made him jump. "Shit, bro! No one said anything about him being a camper fag!"

As Soundwave quickly scaled the broken block staircase at the end of the first bunker and ran to the next barrier, he jumped and rolled to gain some ground when he accidentally tripped his character, barely dodging a blast. He jumped into the second underground bunker and rushed to the exit.

Rumbles above the bunker signified Malus knew exactly where they were. Megatron winced a little when a bolt shattered the sound barrier on the ceiling, "Does he have see-through-solid object abilities because I call that cheating."

Starscream hooked himself on the ledge on the outer area of the battlefield and ran towards the next underground bunker, a bolt barely blocked by the cliff edge. He held a look of panic, worried that he would have been shot off the arena and would have to start all over again.

Up to the surface again, Wheeljack ran by each barrier in the third row until he suddenly misjudged his timing and a shot hit him back. He was exposed as he laid there with the Colossus aiming his hand directly at him.

"Okay you got me, buddy," he fake-laughed. Malus shot him again right before he could get by the last barrier in the third row but this time he was knocked closer. He wasn't happy though, "Seriously fuck off!"

Optimus rolled into the third bunker and huffed, "This is very daunting of an experience. I certainly would fear for my life if this was real."

As all of them reached underneath the Colossus' form and saw it stand menacingly as if it could no longer detect them which most doubted because it was able to see them through rock.

"Imagine falling off this, that would hurt like hell," laughed Megatron.

Bumblebee began to climb the robe-like structure it wore, and he figured out how to scale it quickly until he misinterpreted the steps near the waist of the creature in which he tumbled a good several feet and his health bar depleted a very great portion.

He angrily gawked, " _Yeah 'oh shit'. Yeah 'oh shit'! Took a hard, violent fall, kinda pin-balled down there. Hit a lot of railings, broke a lot of shit! I'm not saying I survived, but I thrived._ "

Bulkhead tripped on a few of the ledges of Malus' skirt and hissed as he kept falling at one portion of the platform. "This isn't designed to be user friendly, is it?"

Reaching the waist of the Colossus, Soundwave stabbed the backside and watched the giant bring a hand back in pain before latching onto the flexing hand. Curiously, it brought its hand back to look at the intruding being hanging on its fur. It stared long and hard at the mech's character before he got the sense to scale the arm of the beast.

"Oh god, this thing's horrifying up close. This feels just like when I met Omega Supreme up front and personal," Starscream grimaced.

Arcee stabbed the upper arm of the Colossus and jumped onto the other hand where it then lurched back. This time, it kept moving its hand from side to side with little time to stand and stay in a stable place.

Knockout narrowed his optics, "So what in the Pit am I supposed to do now? Quit moving, you bitch!"

Some Transformers didn't notice the small glowing weak point on its shoulder and just stabbed its hand to keep it still as they figured out what to do.

"What am I missing? What am I not getting?" Ratchet scowled.

Eventually, many found the weak spot but some ended up falling off the hand as their stamina meter depleted completely and they fell back down to the stone dress of the Colossus. Those who fell off screamed and cursed, of course.

Hitting the weak point with an arrow, Shockwave went as fast as he could and ran across the broad shoulder before attaching himself to the head. Stabbing the insignia, he stayed put as Malus reared back and did its thing but afterwards, it didn't exactly pause. Instead, it shook more than just its head. It shook its entire torso as if it was testing the grip of the invader hoping they would fall to their death.

When some of them tried to stab it a second time after its second brief jolt, it left little to no period between the next shift again before it started the whole process over.

Breakdown growled audibly, "You fuckboi!"

"W-what's a _fuckboi_?" The camerawoman laughed.

He gave a small smile despite still being irritated, "You're about to find out."

Considering all options many got their shot off after learning the timing and noticing how low their stamina was. Some decided to stab the shoulder wound instead to keep the Colossus still long enough to strike. It surprised all of them that the fight was actually much simpler than they've been doing.

Finally, the last strike was posed and Malus roared. It grabbed its face in visible pain and sank to lean droopily since its bolted feet could not uproot. Its structural clothing broke apart slightly as its knees caved under its weight. It half-stood, permanently dead as Wander slipped off and was taken by the darkness. In some screens, he sank into the Colossus or the floor as a funny glitch.

Bumblebee nodded, " _The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place, and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you get hit; it's about how hard you get hit, and keep moving forward._ "

Optimus placed the controller on the nearest desk and breathed solemnly, "It is a shame I have done what I have done but the past cannot be erased. At this time, I can only pray this game has one last thing to give me as karma for these unspeakable actions."

"This is it. That's the end of it all. I finally destroyed the last one. The question now is, what will the effect be now that we have established a cause of genocide?" Starscream murmured.

Megatron's grin slowly faded, "Well now that I've killed everybody, what's to do now? Surely Dormin's not going to keep his word, is he? Oh, maybe I get to fight him next! Please tell me I do!"

"You don't fight him," the crew member stared blankly.

"Then I do win by default."

"You don't win either."

The warlord raised a brow before peering off to the side in confusion then back at the crew member, "Then what the fuck happens?"

* * *

The cutscene began to play and the shaman with his personal guards transcended down into Dormin's temple.

"Are they going to confront me? Did I do something wrong?" Knockout spoke, his servos together over his mouth as he watched the screen intensely.

Down the spiral pathway they descended by sound until they got to the idols. When they passed the sixteenth idol, it suddenly glowed as rays of light shined out and in an instant, it collapsed in a pile of rubble. The head of the statue cracked and twisted lied in its place as the only remaining part intact. The shaman spoke in the unknown language of the game and it became apparent something wasn't right.

Wheeljack gasped, "Oh, I was doing everything wrong? I committed mass genocide for the wrong reasons? Oh shit, I'm not the hero in this, am I?"

Immediately, the shaman caught sight of the girl on the stone slab and eerie music began to play. After a brief show of her still form, the sixteenth Colossus reappeared in a different scene and slowly Wander's unconscious body was lifted almost magically.

"Dormin's saving me," Breakdown chuckled. "Of course, he won't let me die; he still needs me to stop these guys from ruining everything, right? Unless he's just showing off my sacrificial body as a warning which is a dick move."

The shaman was the focus again as he examined the girl before a thud sounded behind him. He and his guards turned to see Wander but the boy wasn't a natural color. He was grey with blackish purple hair and blue iris eyes with black scleras compared to his original auburn hair color at the beginning of the game. He once looked lively, now he looked dead.

Arcee winced, "Ew, what happened to him? That black stuff really turned his complexion into a rotting corpse. He looks terrible!"

"That looks absolutely revolting. He looks like he got hit with a car and tried to come back to life mid-deterioration," Bulkhead gulped.

Wander tried desperately to stand but found himself too weak to function. His voice sounded ghostly as he moaned from his own weakness. The shaman scolded him, explaining in great detail how Wander had been just a pawn in Dormin's game, a tool to make the demonic entity return to full power. This made many of the Transformers emit several responses.

"I did a horrible thing, I knew it! There was something off about this whole 'kill the Colossi to save her' scrap! You lying son of a bitch, Dormin," Ratchet yelled, gesturing at his revelation.

Optimus muttered, "What have I done?"

"This is what I call trust issues. This right here," Starscream snickered.

The shaman ordered an arrow to be shot from one of the guards and the official obeyed, tagging Wander right in the leg.

"And then I took an arrow to the knee," chuckled Wheeljack.

Shockwave's audial fins posed back, "That looks infected. Medical assistance is definitely needed or he must be slaughtered, whichever is more convenient."

One of the guards brought out his sword and positioned it over the fallen boy, keeping it steady as Wander stared right back at the man. In one swift attack, the blade ran through his heart and black blood spewed from the wound.

Soundwave made a disgusted response before adding three question marks to his screen.

Wander still got up with sword inside and pulled it out before falling. In his last moments, he only saw Mono and attempted to reach towards her despite still being so far away. Finally, the black essence engulfed him and he was just a dark husk on the stone floor.

Bumblebee chirped, " _You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain._ "

Suddenly, Wander's dead body shifted into a massive entity. The shadows previously around him charged into the enlarging body until a huge shadowy creature that vaguely looked like a combination of various Colossi nearly touched the ceiling. Dormin monologued his transition, proving indeed he was the villain all along...and now so was Wander.

"Oh okay, I get what you guys said now. I was the bad guy this entire time. I killed an entire species and helped a murderous god complete his revenge. Eh, not the first time this has happened to me," Megatron said with a mocking grin and a wink to the camera.

When Dormin was in a view common to character controls, everybody lost their minds.

"Oh my god, I can be Dormin!? Damn, I am the villain here! And it feels so good to be bad! Die, shaman, die!" Arcee laughed.

Wheeljack clapped happily, "Hey, I still get to fight back from damnation. Who fucking knew, right?"

" _And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!_ " Bumblebee whirred excitedly.

Optimus was the only Transformer who refused to do anything, crossing his arms and placing one leg to sit on top of the other casually. The only motion he did was turn Dormin around to watch the shaman and his guards grab the sword and run to the exit. "I am not stopping them. I deserve everything I did."

The others used the god's all-mighty powers, from slamming its fist down to causing a wave of bluish orange fire to engulf the battlefield. They clambered to keep up with the human scum below but a few did take into consideration why they were moving so slow. Wander had been shot previously so his injury must have carried into the possession as well inconveniently.

"Die, they aren't dying! This is foul gameplay," Ratchet whined.

Knockout cackled madly, "No witnesses!"

Unfortunately, the humans managed to get away regardless of how hard and how much they hit the fleeing intruders.

"Well shit, now am I dead?" Breakdown scowled.

The shaman cried out a verse that sounded like it came from The Exorcist and threw the sword into the pool below. A massive light erupted from it, simmering the room as wind was pulling Dormin towards it. Dormin clawed to get away but slowly his essence left Wander, shrinking the form back to his original size but he still remained a dark entity. Mono lied still lifeless in the distance.

Now the Transformers could control Wander again but it was proven difficult to evade the winds, impossible actually.

"Resistance is futile," Shockwave shook his helm. "No escape is logical."

Bulkhead frowned, "Whelp, nothing I can do now. Take me to hell. I deserve it."

Megatron tried his best to evade it, laughing at his failing attempts, "Go, puny human, survive! Conquer! You suck at this."

Wander seemingly fell in after a while and the light portal closed, sealing the evil of Dormin and supposedly Wander himself inside. Outside the temple, the guards and their leader mounted their steeds and quickly galloped across the bridge. However, the pillars between the bridge and its supports disintegrated one by one, toppling the structure one section at a time.

"Very cinematic, feels like it belongs in a movie," Knockout gawked.

Mono awoke not long after. Her eyes fluttered open and she took in her surroundings, sitting upward to glance around the chamber she lied in. The ruins of the idols sat defeated as she placed her feet on the ground.

Starscream huffed, "She's not bad looking for a human female. But still not my type."

"That has to be the worst, waking up in an unknown place with no one there to comfort you and you remember dying days before that," Ratchet sighed. "I remember I managed to revive a patient in the middle of the battlefield and I was the only one there for her. She was scared, frightened and no one she knew was anywhere near her. I was forced to leave her afterwards and I remember the expression on her face when I did that. Breaks your spark."

A neigh of a horse suddenly rumbled to Mono's right.

"No! She's alive!? You serious right now!? Nobody's yanking my chain?" Breakdown shouted.

Agro appeared, limping up the steps of the temple. She hobbled up to Mono, briefly pausing to assess who she was approaching before sniffing the girl and letting her pet her face.

"Agro, oh my god!" Arcee happily cheered, "I feel like I'm about to cry, like you guys didn't tell me she would return! I got so anxious for nothing!"

Optimus smiled, "So Agro, you survived the war in the end. You may be confined to this land out of punishment for helping release an evil but your sacrifice was out of loyalty to your owner, not of dedication to the cause. Well done."

The credits began to roll, showing the solidified Colossi who now resembled dirt structured to their body shape. Only the stones of their bodies were identifiable. Beautiful music emphasizing the deaths made them feel almost like the real heroes of the story had died protecting what they were built for.

Megatron nodded, "Well, I certainly kind of feel guilty for what I've done. It is cool though how their bodies turned into natural designs despite some of them you can't identity at the angles they are posed."

"Ten out of ten, would play again," Ratchet sarcastically said.

" _No matter how filthy something gets, you can always clean it right up...said no one ever...in this situation...we are monsters,_ " Bumblebee cried.

As the thirteenth Colossus rolled around, the music took a very light-hearted turn that sounded like something from a sermon.

Starscream clapped slowly, "This game had great cinematography, like this would be a really fun place to explore if it was real."

"To think their lives were wasted out of simple greed is such a metaphor for real life how many of us take advantage and destroy what we do not understand. Sometimes what we do in response makes us the enemy when we try to be the hero of the situation," Shockwave grumbled.

Wheeljack groaned, "Wander's not getting out there, is he? Like I just damned him because I wanted to revive a girl which interestingly enough had a doomed fate. The theory is she's the Queen from Ico because she became power-hungry and took all the horned boys to muster their powers of Dormin. And even stranger, the beach Ico and the Queen's daughter end up on is in this game which meant the lost castle was somewhere near here. Like I don't know about you but that may be why we also are the villain but at least one of Wander's descendants made everything right again by killing her. I don't remember how Wander gets descendants though."

The cameraman gasped, "That's...a pretty interesting theory. I've never heard of that before but it sounds reasonable."

The Wrecker shrugged, "I mean the evidence is pretty solitary for this theory too with Mono's fate being cursed and all but it's never stated why then you notice the Queen and it just makes one wonder what the hell happened?"

As the credits continued and Malus made its last appearance, the scene cut back to the shaman and his guards as they slid to a halt on the platform at the end of the bridge. When the last portion of the bridge collapse, he spoke eerily about Wander's fate and his future atonement.

"Foreshadowing the boy in Ico who may be related to Wander. Very clever, game. Most people don't put that together the first time, especially when they haven't played the first game," Knockout smirked.

Bulkhead narrowed his optics, "This is the prequel to Ico, isn't it? What happens to Wander because the boy is supposed to be his descendant but he got stuck in the pool so how does that work?"

The camera panned with Agro and Mono slowly making their way to the now-waterless circle that had trapped Dormin and Wander prior. Agro paused near the pool, ears twitching curiously. A small cry suddenly caught their attention and Mono descended into the warped pit to find a horned baby lying naked in it. She held it, bring the child close to her chest to keep it warm and its whines died a little.

Soundwave turned his helm side to side like a dog curiously scouting the sight at hand.

"Oh so that's how he got great great grandkids. I thought Dormin just made Mono pregnant and said 'here bitch, this is for you' like a curse or something. I didn't think he would revert back to a little baby," Breakdown scoffed.

Starscream stuck out his tongue in a disgusted manner, "Ew, kill it with fire. Don't hold it, you don't know where it's been!"

Limping, Agro scaled the pathway up and Mono followed. They reached the platform where the bridge once resided but the horse knew instantly there was no way out now. She simply turned to climb up to the gardens on the upper level of the temple where the sunlit hole that Dormin often talked down from resided.

Mono caressed the baby while peering around her new surroundings with no fear. In the corner of her eye, a young deer no older than the equivalent of a teenager walked cautiously around the hole in the ground and towards her. When it was in petting distance, the deer sniffed at the baby before looking at Mono as if deciphering whether she was the mother or not. The deer continued as more animals gathered from squirrels to doves as well as Agro herself.

As the camera zoomed out, the hawk from the beginning of the adventure soared away across the vast forbidden land. It brought the viewer to see the various beams of light representing the Colossi spirits before night fell, the moon shining bright as a new era began. The camera passed the hawk as it gave one last screech and the music faded on a sad note.

* * *

"So you've played the game and finished it on a high note. Do you have anything to add on this experience?" The camerawoman asked.

Optimus lied comfortably against his chair with his hands intertwined and a peaceful expression, "I was impressed with the graphics, the lifelike movements of the Colossi and how this was a game of adaptation to survive. No method was always used in the same way and it really made the game wonderful. Story-wise, it was very depressing once you figure out what you were doing and it is not like other games where you always win in some way. Technically, no one won. Everybody lost in some way and that also offers a unique take to it I certainly was not expecting."

Megatron smirked, "Definitely loved the visuals and fight sequences which I know basically defines the entire game but those aspects are vital for gamers to be appreciative of and if both of those aspects are terrible, it's obviously not going to be as good as it may be contributing to the story. It would make the story hard to follow because it would be an eyesore. Then again other games have done that and it worked but of this caliber, those aspects are great to have."

"That was a surprise ending," Wheeljack chuckled. "Like I was not expecting that to go the way it did but I did know beforehand that something in the story was going to go wrong and result in Ico. In between sessions, I did cheat a bit and checked that theory that I stated before because I got curious ahead of schedule but I made sure not to reveal too much to spoil what happens. Again, I wasn't expecting that to happen but the overall story buildup was fantastic for such a simple game."

Starscream held his chin in thought, "I liked it in terms of story and visuals but for me, the gameplay was a little less fun because the strategy behind some of these Colossi isn't presented so the puzzle aspect of it is a hassle. It's not bad per say but I wasn't a very avid fan of it. Other than that and once I got what I was supposed to do, the flow of the gameplay worked a lot better. Maybe I'm being a bit stingy but as a first time player of this game, I need a bit more of a hint otherwise I'm going to be wasting time on one Colossus for an hour just running around in circles."

Soundwave a thumbs up but then gestured as if he was giving a lecture and played a series of voice clips, " _Let's go again, I'm ready, baby!...what we do in life echoes in eternity...I know what I have to do now. I've got to keep breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?...someone I once knew wrote that we walk away from our dreams afraid that we may fail or worse yet, afraid we may succeed...turn your wounds into wisdom...what a day. What a motherfuckin' day."_

"I have really nothing to say about it except that was one of the most revolutionizing gameplays I've ever gone through," Arcee smiled. "Quite honestly, there's nothing really bad I can say about it but only point out the good aspects of it like the gameplay itself. I really enjoyed the fight sequences; I love challenges and puzzles incorporated into boss fights are like my favorite thing. And visuals really looked great compared to the PS2 and PS3. I'm amazed they went to the lengths they did to make this game that stunning. Great job, Team Ico, you really outdid yourselves!"

Breakdown patted the table, "Personally, I found the aspect of scaling the Colossi and the Colossus A.I. a very big pain in the ass but I understand why it's like that. I mean a game with only an advanced boss run is not going to be easy or else the game would only be maybe an hour but how intelligent they started and continued to be became really emphasized that most of the game's abilities all revolve around that A.I. and how it reacted. That's often frustrating to deal with in terms of time and of strategy. Otherwise, I didn't have a problem with anything else. I absolutely loved the designs and everything, including Mono. Yay!"

" _Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: 'With great power comes great responsibility.'...will I get in trouble for that?...I think about the hands I have held, the places I've seen, the vast lands whose dirt is caked on the bottom of my shoes. The world has changed me...so do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you...I'm a bad man...ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?...the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist...life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get,"_ Bumblebee emphasized.

Ratchet rubbed his servos together awkwardly, "Well this has been a fun game and all but I'm going to take my leave."

The cameraman raised a brow, "You're not going to give us an opinion on it?"

"You want an opinion? Fine, here's the deal. I hated those boss fights with an absolute passion and I hope you feel happy about yourselves because now I feel guilty as hell. I hate it, I hate you and I don't know why I agreed to play this game because my trust issues have definitely increased. That's it, I'm done! End of conversation! Bye!"

One of the crew members stuttered, "Ratchet, come on! B-but...?"

"Nope! Done!"

Knockout twirled in his chair happily, "That was an amazing experience. And I kind of want to play its sequel now, _The Last Guardian_ I believe it's called? My main complaint has to be the Colossus A.I. because that made things completely random and it got relatively frustrating, especially with the later ones. The visuals and the gameplay mechanics were marvelous, I actually can't complain about that. Agro was very fun to steer and pretty balanced for firing arrows on which felt like an accomplishment being able to hit Colossi like Phalanx with ease. The movements of all the characters were absolutely stunning and I noticed they improved the water physics too. I played some of the game when it was on the PS3 and the water physics were still very bland like on the PS2 so that was an interesting thing to see. I'm looking forward to its sequel."

Shockwave leaned towards the table with his servos clasped together formally, "I certainly did not like the killing aspect of it because why would I do such a thing even if it meant resurrecting someone? You don't tamper with life unless there's a probable cause that benefits more than just yourself. The fluid motions of the Colossi also felt real which is a great thing for me because I like to study creatures from head to toe, how they move, how they interact with others and seeing that almost made me awe which is a rare thing for me to do. The visuals were gorgeous, the gameplay felt smooth with occasional bumps like the horseback riding section of the tenth Colossus, Dirge."

Bulkhead sighed, "What can I say about this game? Um...I have little to no problems with it in general but the one thing that stood out to me was the designs of the Colossi. Like what were those artists smoking when they created them? Some of those Colossi are the most nightmarish things to ever be put in a video game. Dirge and I believe its name was Barba looked hideous. Imagine waking up with those two staring down at you, would not be a pleasant time. Everything else I can live with and it is honestly one of the most emotional and challenging games I've played in a while so there's that."

The producer asked each Transformer one last thing. "Would you play this again but on hard mode?"

Breakdown grimaced, "Fuck that! It was hard enough on normal! Why would I ever?"

Arcee nodded with a considerate expression, "I mean I'd do it just to prove that I can and to see Malus again maybe. I'm pretty damn determined to take on all challenges so go ahead, hand me the controller and I'll do it right now."

Optimus and Megatron coincidentally both shook their heads. While Optimus bit his lip in explaining why, the warlord huffed, "Oh hell no! I've beat it and it's done! This isn't like _Super Mario Galaxy_ where every item leads to another secret level, I know that much therefore it's not worth it."

Soundwave put on a wide smile emoji and clapped but Bumblebee blinked a few times in uncertainty, " _I don't want to die. I want to live forever down there in the lands I conquered, my kingdom. That should be my reward...I have no plans to die today._ "

Shockwave gulped or made a sound just like it, "I would prefer not to go through...that again. I have already done enough damage for one day, I think."

The green Wrecker gestured "no" as he glanced with a strained face. "I'm not going through that sadness again. Once is enough!"

Wheeljack hummed, "If you pay me, I'll consider it but I'm not going to lay a digit on that controller with that game in there until I see something worth the strife. It was already hard as shit before, is it going to be on a 'nightmare' mode now?"

Knockout laughed like a hyena, "Aw, at least give me some recovery time. That was a minefield plus taking many of those creatures on hard mode would give me a spark attack from absolute misery. No thank you!"

"No, plain and simple," Starscream snarled.

The camerawoman giggled, "Why?"

The Seeker's wings fluttered with a somewhat forced frown to keep him from breaking into his own laughter as he replied, "No-o-o-o! No-o-o-o! N. O. What part of that don't you get?"

"Ratchet, would you play it again on hard mode?" The producer shouted.

A faint sound echoed through the halls far away from the room Ratchet was in. "Nope!"

The remaining crew was cackling madly as the producer came on screen to peer out the door and raised his arms up in slight disappointment while holding his questionnaire. He looked at the camera before bending over and placing the sheet to cover his face from his reaction.

* * *

 **AN: And that's that! Hope you all enjoyed that "playthrough" of _Shadow of the Colossus_ and if you couldn't tell, some of the events that happened while fighting the Colossi as well as some of the reactions were built from my own experience with it the first time through. To be honest, I can speed run both normal and hard modes easily so this isn't valid currently but the first time was multiple instances of mixed reactions, let me tell you.**


End file.
